Need Her Now More Than Ever: Harry & Ron's Life wout Hermione
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: This is the related fic to "Neither Could Live or Survive" and "They Weren't Better or Happier Without Him." This time, we are dealing with Hermione's death in the final battle and how Ron and Harry cope with that loss. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Greatest Witch Bested

**Greatest Witch Bested**

May 2nd, 1998; 7:00 AM. The Battle of Hogwarts had resumed anew. Fights ranged across the castle, but none were as heavily concentrated as in the Great Hall.

Hermione Granger was dueling her former torturer, Bellatrix Lestrange. Suddenly, she saw Ron miss death by an inch, and was distracted for just a moment. A critical moment.

"Avada Kedavra!" A bolt of green light hit Hermione dead on. She was dead before she hit the floor. Ron saw her fall, and time seemed to slow, even stop altogether.

"HERMIONE! NOOOO!" He ran for Bellatrix, leapt in front of her and began hailing curse after curse, the worst he could think of, at her. _She will die today,_ Ron thought sadistically.

Bellatrix's sneer quickly became a growl as she dueled with Ron intensely. Other fighters stopped their own duels to watch theirs. At last, Ron screamed "Avada Kedavra!" for maybe the twentieth time. This time, the spell found its mark. Bellatrix froze before falling backward, dead now herself. Cheers and screams split the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Ron saw Voldemort turn to face him before, suddenly, a shield of magic surrounded him and Harry reappeared back from the dead. Minutes later, the Dark Lord followed Bellatrix to the grave.

* * *

The Battle over, Ron rushed to Hermione. Though he knew it was hopeless, he shook her lifeless body, kissed her lips harder than he had when the pair had made out in the Room of Requirement the night before. It was no use, she was unresponsive, she could not be saved. Ron began to sob openly.

"Please, Hermione! Please, don't leave me! Hermione, I'm so sorry I couldn't save you, Hermione. HERMIONE!" he screamed at last, his cry almost shaking the castle walls.


	2. Chapter 2: Where Do We Go From Here?

**Where do We Go From Here?**

Hermione's funeral was one of many, but it was probably the most memorable. A hero, one of the Golden Trio, was being laid to rest after all. An open-casket visitation was arranged. When Ron approached the coffin carrying his precious, lost love, Harry kept everyone else back so his friend could have a few minutes alone with her. Her eyes closed and robed in the red dress she had worn to Bill and Fleur's wedding, Hermione looked as though she might be sleeping. Oh, how the redhead now holding her wished that was so! Ron cradled her in his arms, weeping. "Hermione!….No….No!" Those were the only two words he could manage to utter. At last, Harry laid a hand on his best mate's shoulder. Ron flinched at his touch and tightened his grip on Hermione, as if to shield her from the world she was no longer part of. He didn't want to let her go. Finally, reluctantly, he lowered Hermione back into the casket. His tears falling on her upturned face, he tenderly kissed her on the mouth one last time. His lips lingered against hers for a minute, two, before he broke away. "Goodbye. I love you. I will _always_ love you." Once the Greatest Witch of her Age was lowered into the ground, Harry and Ron laid flowers at her beautiful grave, staying there for hours after everyone else had left. Both boys also decided that it would be best to leave Hermione's brainwashed parents in Australia; Ron figured it is what she would have wanted.

* * *

Harry and Ron then returned home to the Burrow. Harry quickly tried to continue on by helping around the house. To him, business equated a return to somewhat normalcy. Ron, however, struggled. He would stay shut up in his room for days, not even coming down for meals. On the very rare occasions when he was seen, he never smiled.

Finally, one day, Ron invited Harry up to his room for a game of chess. In the middle of it, Harry noticed Ron was staring at him, not at the board.

"What?" the Boy Who Lived finally asked.

"How can you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How can you sit there or go around the last several weeks and pretend not to feel anything?"

Harry got angry very quickly. "Hey! Don't take this out on me! You really think I don't feel sad that she's gone?!"

"YOU COULD HAVE FOOLED ME!" Ron roared. "Let me spell it out for you: we lost Hermione! Alright? We. lost. her. Noticed that silence where her bossy advice or reading from books used to be? I sure as bloody hell have. I can't believe that you don't care our Golden Trio is now a Golden Duo!"

"I'm a internalist!" Harry defended himself. "I deal with tragedy differently - and I've known it a lot more than you! Crying won't bring back the dead, Ron - I learned that as a little kid. It won't bring back Hermione, or Fred, or Lupin, or Moody, or any of them! IT WON'T!" He calmed at last. "And there's no point in pointing fingers and saying whose fault it is. We can't do that to each other. It's just you and me, mate. It's just you and me…." With those words, Harry began to weep at last. Ron quickly came apart too. The best friends hugged, mourning the loss of their final third. Neither would ever fully recover from Hermione's death.


End file.
